Fort Sumner woman claims lottery prize

A Fort Sumner woman claimed a $50,000 prize Monday from the New Mexico Lottery.

Blanche Boyd, 79, purchased a ticket for the Feb. 19 Powerball drawing at an Allsup’s convenience store in Portales.

Boyd’s ticket matched the white ball numbers of 3, 12, 34 and 42 and the red Powerball of 36. The odds of matching four white balls and the Powerball is approximately 1 in 723,000.

The Powerball drawing is done with two bins — five balls are picked from one bin of 59 numbered white balls, and the Powerball is drawn from a bin of 39 numbered red balls. Players can win by matching at least three white balls without the Powerball, or any combination with it.

Normally, this pays a $10,000 prize, but Boyd paid another $1 for the “power play,” which multiplies any non-jackpot prize between two and five times.

The store, located at 1801 South Ave. I, had previously sold 17 other large prize-winning tickets ranging between $1,000 and $32,000.